#readerxwhatever writes

You were a royal guard, assigned to keeping watch over and training the Pure Vessel.

It took you a bit to notice, because of how well they hid it, that they were not, in fact, pure.

Soon your training sessions and moments alone became silent times of comfort.

Though they did not speak you grew to understand the gist of what was happening, why they were like this.

Carefully, quietly, you would hold their hand, hug them, be ever so gentle with them.

Always on alert, you would allow them their mind, their space to breath.

As they had little else, they clung to this.

They fell, hard and fast for you.

But their ages of training, steeling themself to be nothing but a shell, a vessel, made all their feelings impossible.

They could never tell you, even if they wanted to.

You both could tell as the guards became more scarce.

Each one taken by infection.

The king disappeared longer and longer each day.

The queen grew distant.

You were their only refuge.

They almost wanted to beg you to take them away from the palace.

They wanted to run, but they never felt more than the faint urge.

Eventually, you caught the infection.

You didn't want to tell them, in fear that they'd be harmed.

You knew that you would do the damage.

And so they waited.

And waited.

Dearest Y/n,

Before anything else, I do not know if this will get to you. I do not know if this will ever make it out of my quarters, much less the palace in whole. I do not know if there is a single soul here I trust to deliver this without question.

And now, I write.

Y/n. You have been gone for a long time. I've not a clue where you are and have no ability to gain this knowledge. This palace feels lonely without you here to laugh. To understand me. To trust me.

The King never exits his workshop anymore, entrusting my last week's of supervision to plain guards that leave me standing silent and alone in favor of entertainment. The Queen left not long after you vanished.

I do not know what to do without you. I do not know if I am without you. I miss you dearly. I do not know when the King plans to finish with me. I fear it is soon.

He told me I am not to think, not to feel, not to have voice. But I failed long ago.

You are the only one who believes in me, Y/n.

I love you

Best of wishes,

You stood by each other in the pouring rain. It wasn't uncomfortable by any means. Sure it made your shell a bit wet, but it was nice. Calming even. You and Hollow had been exploring the City of tears. Despite wandering here for ages there was still so much you did not know about. You and them decided to take a break a bit back, and sat in a sheltered area, until you remembered something you had been wanting to show them for a while.

You asked them to follow you, and they were curious, as they often are. You took their thin hand in your own and led them through the empty streets of the city until you reached the center. There was a fountain there, water-worn benches around it. The fountain was huge, a statue in it's middle. It was Hollow. Or at least, some old depiction of them. There were three statues around it, their masks carved to look like the dreamers that had sealed the egg Hollow had been in for so long.

When Hollow saw the statue, you felt their grip on your hand tighten. You looked at them, concerned, but they didn't move their gaze from the fountain. Now you both stood beside each other in the rain, looking up at the statue. It was peaceful. Hollow didn't seem upset, or angry. They didn't seem like anything. They were, well, hollow. Time passed and you felt them start to lead you to a bench. You both sat there for a bit.

They tapped on your shoulder to get your attention.

"Thank you for showing this to me." they signed.

You felt a bit better knowing they were thankful, and didn't seem upset about it. You signed back "You're welcome."

Hornet

Her favorite thing about you is your hair. She loves the strange, strong strands of fiber that stretch from your already adored head. It's lovely to her. Often, when you are together, you'll find her nimble, scarred didgets dancing themselves along your scalp. Carefully picking through any tangle and small sifference she feels.

Sometimes, she'll just look at you, holding your strange, soft face between a pair of her hands just to gaze at your every detail. Her other pair twirling in the hair that reminds her almost of webbing.

Of course, she's still always stunned whenever you plant a soft kiss upon the end of her mask.

Hollow

Their favorite thing about you is your warmth. How soft and delicate you feel beside them. You're squishy, and strange, even in comparison to their hulking, void form. They love to hold you and feel your heat move against their cold carapace. Even with just one arm they can just pick you up and carry you. They're ginormous, and they love how small you are in comparison.

They tend to simply grab you randomly, sitting down somewhere and hugging you tight into their embrace. Vibrating and silently purring against your form. You often jokingly struggle against their loving trap, but flop and relax into them. They love how your body rises and falls with your breath. They'll nuzzle into your head and neck as they cuddle you to death.

It always sends a nice shiver through them when you trace your careful hands over their horns.

Grimm

His favorite thing about you is your heart. Most creatures he's encountered have a heart rate, of course, but most creatures' heart rate is far to fast to hear nor feel. It's unsettling to him. This is why he loves yours. It has a steady, rhythmic pulse, pumping in your chest. The first moment he encountered you he could hear it, loud and clear. He nearly mistaked it for his own heart with how resounding it was. Now, he tends to keep a hand on you at all times, simply to feel the small tremors it sends through you. You can't feel those tremors, but he does and he adores them.

Now, you both tend to calmly press a hand to each others chests, feeling each other's pulse. He loves how yours seems to jump so quickly, and how it races whenever he gets a bit closer. His own twin hearts drum beneath his carapace, one his own and the other belonging to a nightmare. It's peaceful to simply sit there and feel, warmth radiating from him.

You were tired of running. You were tired of trying to find shelter, only to find something else had taken that place already. You were tired of searching for food, only to find rotten scraps or dying rats. You were tired. And you felt like giving up.

Currently you were cowering in the corner of a cold, damp, dark alleyway, the rain pattering on the ground around you as you used a dumpster's broken lid as a roof from the rain. You shook, to many possible causes to know exactly what made you do so. You felt sick, cold, and wet. Your clothes clung to you, soaked in rain, mud, grime, and tears. You felt your body shake again, and your eyes drooped. If you fell asleep this time, there would be no waking up.

You were ready to succumb to this, allowing the heavy cold to envelop you, letting the darkness to wrap its thin, spindly arms around you...

"Hello-?"

Somebody called out.

It wasn't for help, but a concerned call. You had no clue where it came from, but you were too tired to respond, and close to finally passing out.

"Hey!-"

They called out again, closer this time. You heard footsteps and breathing from nearby but sleep overwhelmed your eyes and you only caught a blur of a figure rushing to you before the dark took you.

———

You awoke with a gasp, drenched with sweat from a dream you couldn't remember anymore. In those few moments of panic, you did not notice the warmth and dryness of the area you were in now, or the odd crackling sound nearby, but you did now. You looked down at what you were on to see that you had been sleeping on an old, torn up, living room chair. A thick coat was laying on top of you. You glanced around the area now. You saw a tv, fizzling and buzzing with it's odd sounds and lack of true film. It hurt your head a bit, but you ignored it. The room you were in was large. There were a few broken boards here or there, but it was in otherwise well condition. You heard the sound of rain pattering on glass, the source a boarded up window. There were two doors. Those were boarded up as well. Some books lay askew on the ground, one closed and bookmarked neatly on top of the television.

You couldn't remember how you got here. Only cold darkness and overwhelming sleep. And a figure calling and rushing to you.

They must have saved you. Maybe this was their coat. Perhaps this their shelter... But the doors were boarded, all entrances blocked. How would they get in and out? Perhaps they left you here, just so you would have a bit longer life. If that was so, you wish they hadn't. You sighed and shook, bundling into the coat and curling into the old seat you lay on...

The tv crackled louder, as if trying to catch your attention. You pressed your hands to your ears and whined, the noise becoming piercing. It roared a few seconds more, then quickly fizzled down to its usual buzzing. But that wasn't the odd thing. It was the footsteps you heard seemingly coming from the tv. You curled in tighter on yourself, still covering your ears, unsure weather to look or to stay as still and silent as possible.

"Hehe- looks like their still asleep... They must have been exhausted..." were they referring to you? Their voice sounded young, but with a deepened tone, and a feint, barely noticable distortion to it. You assumed they were a boy. You heard them set something down, pick something up from around the tv, and then sit down on the other side of the chair. You heard pages flip, and the boy hummed an odd melody.

You decided to risk looking, and peaked at the other end of the seat. A kid, roughly the same size as you, though they seemed a bit taller, sat with a bag on their head, flipping through the pages of the book you saw on the tv. The bag had two eye holes, that seemed unreasonably dark. Their clothes were dirty, a bit ripped and wet, but they didn't seem to mind. They wore no shoes, their feet smudged and grimy. You looked back at the bag on their head, wondering why they wore it. Their head shifted towards you and you gasped slightly, curling in on yourself a bit more. They laughed a bit.

"Hello there. Glad to see you're awake." though you could not see their face, their voice conveyed the tone of a smile. "Are you hungry? I found some food while you were asleep." they nodded towards a bundle by the tv. "It might be a bit soggy though- getting dry food through rain is tough without protection."

As if in response, your stomach growled. You didn't take your eyes off them and slipped out from under the coat and crawled over to the bundle. You opened the soggy sack, finally looking away from the boy, and grabbed a damp piece of bread. It smelled old, but there was no mold on it, so you ate. It was more than you'd had in a while, and you ate quite a lot from the bag. What was left tempted you to eat more, but you looked back at the bag headed boy, who was reading and humming again. You picked up the bag and brought it over to them, giving it to them.

"T-thank you-" your voice was raspy and sore, from low use. You hadn't spoken in a long time. They looked from the bag to you, and spoke with a kindhearted smile in their voice.

"I already ate some. You can have all you want, you must be starving."

With those kind words you basically inhaled the last pieces of soggy bread and sat back on the seat. You allowed yourself to relax a bit more. You picked up the coat that was used as a blanket for you, and turned to the boy, holding it out.

"Is- this yours-?"

They looked at it and chuckled softly. "Yes, it is, but you can use it as long as you need."

You hesitated, then wrapped it around yourself, pulling your arms through the sleeves. It was warm. Still a pleasant feeling in comparison to what you were used too.

"What's your name? If you don't mind me asking that is."

"It's... I-it's- I-i can't remember."

"That's okay! It's alright-! Here how about I call you- uh- Y/n! How does that sound?"

You smiled. "That s-sounds... Nice."

"I'm Mono, by the way. It seems we may be sticking together for a bit." he held his hand out to you, and you took it, shaking it with a smile.

Hollow squeezed your claw in their own, practically dragging you through the no longer forgotten Crossroads. Excitement seemed to radiate from them in waterfalls. They were practically vibrating. They looked back at you with their blank eye sockets and help your hand a tad tighter. You laughed, nervously, unsure of where they were leading you.

They stopped underneath a well entrance of sorts. There was a chain and Hollow let go of your hand to grab it and begin climbing it, but then looked back at you. They dropped down again and knelt down, gesturing at their back. They signed with their hand. "Get on." you, at first, shook your head with a laugh. You could climb the chain yourself. But they seemed insistent, so after a moment you climbed on and held tight as they climbed up the well. They let you down and you looked around. It was a simple town. A few bugs walked around. There was a sign that stated the name.

Dirtmouth. Pleasant.

You laughed a bit to yourself as a few young nymphs ran around playing. The sky was filled with stars. Though, you were still confused.

You turned to Hollow.

"Why did you bring me here-? I mean, it's lovely... But why-?"

They seemed to vibrate with excitement again and grabbed your claw, leading you through the town.

"Hollow, what-?!" they kept pulling you along. They were definitely vibrating. You could feel it. A moment passed and you were taking deep breaths with your claws holding you up on your knees as Hollow stood to the side. You turned to them. "What's going on-?"

They pointed behind you. You turned slowly...

"Oh my abyss."

In front of you was a giant thing, bigger than any living thing you've ever seen. It was fuzzy. Very, very fuzzy. It's huge floppy ears twitched a bit. It seemed to be sleeping. Many other bugs were petting and resting against it's paws and fur. You've heard of these things. They cone every once in a while to different places as you have heard, but you have only heard descriptions of them.

This is a bunny.

You looked at Hollow, eyes wide.

"Is this what-?"

They nodded and grabbed your claw again, taking you to the giant thing. You reached it and paused a reach away from its fluff. Hollow took your intertwined claws and touched the bunny's fur. You giggled with delight and hugged the fluff. Hollow joined you, vibrating.

This is nice. So, so nice. You sat down and leaned against the bunny and Hollow sat with you. There was a calming silence, asides from the chattering of other bugs and the breathing of the giant bunny. Hollow reached over to you and grabbed you, hugging you into them and the bunny's fur.

You were stunned a moment, but giggled and hugged them back. You snuggled together there.

Yeah.

You layed on the floor in the middle of the room. Today had been a long day, and you were exausted. The floor felt so comfortable right then, you already felt yourself drifting off...

Then you heard heavy footsteps walk into the room and stop beside you.

You had been living with Hornet, Ghost, and Hollow for a while now after you became pretty good friends with them all. Despite their intense backstorys, they just seemed pretty much like anyone else. Sure they were a bit strange in ways, like Hornet's starting aversion to getting attatched (she relaxed on that and you two became good sparring buddies), and Ghost's odd shadow fits. But, Hollow seemed to struggle hard with emotions. They always seemed in a forceibly empty state, void of feeling and only doing what they were told. But, every once in a while, they would make an action that they clearly wanted to do, and felt like they should.

And now, they stood beside you.

You could feel their blank eyes on your back, something about them felt calculating. After a second, you heard their limbs creak, and you assumed they ware walking away...

You felt their arm lift you up and hug you into them. You craned your head to look at them, stunned as they started to move. Your voice wasn't seeming to work, and when you decided to try and wriggle out of their grip, your body didn't seem to work either. You gave up your fruitless attempts and let them carry you.

A few seconds later, Hollow sat on a chair, still holding you. They pulled their legs onto the chair and hugged you close, nuzzling your head with their mask. It was comforting, and you found yourself cuddling into them. You sighed as full exhaustion overwhelmed you, and you began to drift off.

Hollow curled a bit more around you and stroked your head gently with their hand. It was so peaceful...

"Thank you..." you whispered, then you drifted into rest.

You and Hollow had been friends for nearly half a year now. You were good friends. At first, it was odd to not talk to them easily, but they taught you sign language, so that they could communicate with you easier. Since then, you two have been hanging out and having fun.

Some days you relax in Greenpath or the Queen's overgrown Gardens. Others you explore Hallownest and play. You share tales of your past, and hopes for the future. You visit the Blue Lake and swim. You collect shells and stones there.

It was also there that your relationship changed.

You two were sitting on the sandy beach showing each other pretty shells, but Hollow seemed to be looking at you a lot more today. You had to admit that in the time being friends with them, you had begun to develop feelings for the tall vessel. Certainly more than just feelings of friendship. Though you were unsure if Hollow felt the same way.

As you though of this, you glanced at hollow, who was definitely staring at you now, their good eye looking intently at your face. This was a sort of shock, and you leaned back a bit too quickly from the stun. It caused you to fall back onto your back, and for Hollow to snap into full attention and look at you, now laying fully on the sand.

They tilted their head, and you didn't move, deciding to play it off as what you wanted to do.

"You gonna lay down with me, or nah?" you asked with a joking tone.

They looked at you a moment more, then glanced away, scratching their mask with their good hand. They started to get up then, wich made you sit up, and get up with them. You were about half their size, even with them in their usual slouch.

They looked at you and seemed to sigh, before begining to sign.

'We have been friends for a while now, and I wanted to say that I really like you-' They paused a moment, looking at you, seeing if you had anything to say. You were stunned. Did they really feel the same? They started signing again, a bit sloppier. They seemed nervous. 'You are really nice, and kind, and a great friend. And I wanted to ask if maybe, you wanted to go out some time?'

They did. By wyrm, they did! You looked them dead in the eye, and despite its empty look, you could tell they were nervous, but hopeful.

You felt like you could smile so big it could tear your face.

"Yes! Yes, we can go out sometime! I'd love too!" you hugged them.

They looked at you a moment more, stunned, but got very excited. They picked you up with their arm and hugged you as well.